Peaches and Cream Pie

It's peach time. Actually, it's been peach time for quite a while and I've been working my way steadily through various pounds of Red Haven peaches that I picked at Kelley Orchards, here in Payette. First I canned them in a star anise/cinnamon syrup, then I gave a whole bunch of them away to the people at work but I still had some left to play with.

Just like with the chard, there comes a point where you're peached out. You look at your counterspace where these sweet, fuzzy, juice fruits are sitting, just waiting to get used up, begging to be canned, eaten, frozen, dried or pickled. Imploring you that their whole purpose of growing was to serve you, the perky peach processor, and fulfill the lofty goal of feeding you, your friends or for lack of better, your chickens. And all you can do is shrug your shoulders and turn a blind eye. Because, like I said, there comes a point where you're peached out.

But you also know that there comes another point, probably three months down the road, where it's cold, dark and windy out there, where you long for summer, for warmth and for fresh produce. And you guiltily remember those peaches...yup, those golden, juicy, sweet peaches. And you beat yourself up for letting those last ones on the counter go to waste. You scold yourself for not putting them up, for not eating them, using them in some way, shape or form.

So....in order to prevent that, I'm back at doing something with the rest of the peaches. And by golly, browsing through Natashya's Living In the Kitchen With Puppies (check out her recipes and fabulous photography!) I came across a mention of Peaches and Cream Pie. Whoa! I'm not usually one for peach pie but, in this case, it sounded wonderful. I sent a quick email to Natashya for some guidance and she kindly sent me the link to this website for the recipe.

I followed the recipe, substituting the tapioca for cornstarch and, since I don't have permission yet to re-post it, I'll just leave you with the link and a picture. Since pie crusts and I have this awkward love-hate relationship, I was hesitant to make my own but since the pie recipe is followed by a Favourite Pie Crust recipe, I just had to try. And I am glad I did! This is going to be my new pie crust recipe, it's fabulously easy and it was love at first sight. I had enough for one large pie and leftover dough and filling for a small one. The big one went to a dear friend whose father was visiting, the small one I ate myself. Wow! The Red Haven peaches are not overly sweet and gain some from the sugary crust and sweet whipping cream. This pie is perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.